Improved waedeobe bedstead



@uiten taire attnt @fitta WILLIAM R. BAGNALL, OF CHELSEA, MASSACHUSETTS. Letters Patent No. (39,304, dated October l, 1867.

IMPROVED WARDROBE BEDSTEAD.

dille tlgehulc nfemh tu in iipsc giettufs gaient mit milking putt nf tige anni.

TO ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

Be it known that I. WILLIAM R. BAGNALI, of Chelsea, in the county of Suffolk, and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improved Secret Bed; and I do hereby declare that the following, taken in connection with the drawings which accompany and forin part of this specification, is a description of my invention suicient to enable `those skilled in the art to practise it.

In that class of wardrobe bedstcads in which the bed extends transversely across the recess in ythe wardrobe or case (the frame or bedstead being hung near the head thereof, and the foot swinging up into the Atop and down from the same,) it always requires a person of very considerable strength to swing the frame up into and down from the case, not only on account of its great weight, but from the great height to which the top has to be raised.

The primary object of my invention is to construct a secret bed which shall remedy this defect; and this I accomplish by hinging the bed-frame so as to swing down from one side thereof, or laterally, instead of from vthe'tp, and I prefer to make a wide ease, hinging the bedstead or frame at its opposite ends to the sides ofthe case, (instead of hinging the opposite sides of said frame tl1ereto,) each hinge-pin being placed near one side of the frame, and so that byswinging the opposite side out and down from the frame the bed is readily brought into horizontal position, the frame being at other times shutL up wholly within the lower part of the case. This arrangement not only renders the operation of dropping the bed from' the,` case and of closing it up within the same a very easy one, but it enables the bed to be combined with the ordinary drawers and shelves of book-cases, bureaus, clothes-presses, Sie., or it enables the lower cupboard-room of such articles ot' furniture to be utilizedl as receptacles for secret beds.

It is the arrangement of a bed-frame, hinged at or near one side, and so as to have its opposite side swing up and down, that constitutes my invention, and the drawings represent an embodiment of the saine, in combination with a case containing, besides the bed, a series of hook-shelves, a clothes-press, and a set of drawers, A representing a front elevation, and B a vertical cross-section of the case.

a denotes the back wall, and b Z the end walls, constituting, with the hase e and top d, the body of the case, in the upper part of which is seen, at one side, a compartment, c, having book-shelvesf, while at the other side isa clothes-press, h, each compartment having doors g. Iusthelow these compartments are drawers z', and beneath these is a lowcloset, k, extending the whole breadth of the case, and covered at its front by a door, Z, which constitutesthe base ofthe bed or bed-frame, the end pieces m and side pieces n of which are fixed toand project from this base, asseenA at B. The box or bed-frame made by these 'pieces is hung within the closet by pins o, projecting into the end walls b, or into bearings xed upon the inner surfaces of such walls, said pins being located near the bottom of the frame, and so that when the hed is swung out, as shown by the red lines at. B, the bed will be brought into horizontal position, pieces p (constituting mouldings when the bed is closed up) swinging down from the bed as feet for the outer part of the bed to rest upon. Head and foot pieces q may swing inwards from the end pieces m of the box-frame when the box is closed, and up-over such pieces lwhen the bed is opened out from the case, and a suitable cord may be drawn across from one end tothe opposite,

to conne the bedding in place when the frame is thrown up.

By reference to the elevation shown at A it will be readily seen that the piece of furniture is preserved in a common form, there being nothing outre in its appearance, and nothing to indicate that its lower part contains the bed, this being particularly the case where a narrow or single 'bed is combined with the piece of furniture. The bed-frame may be hinged directly to the mop-board or wail of aroom, and swing down thercfrom in substantially the same manner as it is arranged to swing down from the case, as shown in the drawings, or it may be applied to other forms or kinds of furniture, but I consider it peculiarly applicable to a case having the form substantially as shown. When applied directly to a room wall, however, the bottom piece and thc outer surfaces of thc side and end pieces nrc panelled or otherwise made ornamental, to correspond with the furniture of the room, and as the frame in such case has to be some distance above the floor, a false or reino able base may bearranged to slide under the frame when it is fastened up against the wall.

l. I claim a hinged oblong bed-frame, arranged to swing laterally from a case, as and for the purpose described.

Q. I claim a swinging bed-frame, combined with a sui-mounted wardrobe or bureau, or both, substantially as described.

I claim a wardrobe or bureau, or both, combined with a swinging bed frame having head and foot pieces swinging inwards, as and for the purpose described.

WILLIABI R. BAGNALL.

Witnesses FRANCIS lGiorno, L. H. LATIMEP.. 

